A Medical Device Daily

Stratum Med (Urbana, Illinois), a physician owned and governed services company, said it has agreed to partner with Amerinet (St. Louis), a national healthcare group purchasing organization.

Stratum said it would exclusively use Amerinet's national portfolio of contracts and Total Spend Management business intelligence solutions to help manage its members' combined annual spend of $70 million. Stratum represents 22 non-acute facilities and more than 1,900 physicians in 16 states. The company has been an Amerinet member since 1998 and says it has saved its members more than $5 million a year through Amerinet.

"Amerinet has consistently met our objectives to lower the costs of our members' operating expenses," said Brian Medendorp, executive director of group purchasing for Stratum.

The new agreement will enable Stratum to aggregate its members' total spend to achieve better tier pricing that leads to additional savings, according to the company. The partnership will also focus on total spend management solutions that provide savings opportunities on consumable supplies and purchased services. Additionally, the agreement will result in the implementation of cost reduction initiatives through contract evaluation and utilization.

"We share Stratum's commitment to provide the highest quality of care, in the most efficient manner possible, to the people of their community," said Todd Ebert, Amerinet president/CEO. "We look forward to continuing our working relationship with Stratum and delivering the solutions that brings additional value and benefits to the patients they serve."

Stratum has members in Washington, Oregon, Texas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, New York, and Connecticut.

Amerinet said it serves more than 25,000 acute and non-acute health care providers nationwide.

Aetna (Hartford, Connecticut) reported an agreement with Indian River Medical Center (IRMC; Vero Beach, Florida) for a three-year contract that adds the hospital to Aetna's provider network in the Central Florida area, effective March 1.

"This is a very positive development for our members," said Ruth Fricke, Aetna's head of network operations in Florida. "The addition of Indian River Medical Center significantly expands Aetna's hospital access in the Vero Beach area. We're hopeful it will enhance our efforts to attract new customers and retain existing ones."

Members of Aetna network-based plans will be able to receive covered in-patient and out-patient services at in-network rates, from the IRMC, which operates a 335-bed hospital.

Aetna said it provides and administers health benefits to more than 225,000 members in Central Florida. Those members have access to a contracted network of 33 hospitals, 1,378 primary care physicians and 3,111 specialists, the company said.

Aetna says it serves about 36.7 million people.

In grant news: Invitrogen (Carlsbad, California) reported launch of the Invitrogen Foundation, a philanthropic organization aimed at increasing participation in the life sciences among students, teachers, scientific professionals and the public. Invitrogen has granted an initial $1 million to the Foundation and said it plans to provide additional funding in the future.

Greg Lucier, CEO and chairman of Invitrogen, said, "We will focus on encouraging more students to embrace a career in the sciences, as well as celebrating the accomplishments of today's researchers and the improvements their work brings to our lives everyday."

"As we launch the Invitrogen Foundation, we look forward to receiving a wide range of grant applications, which will give us the opportunity to help advance science education in innovative ways," said David Hoffmeister, Invitrogen CFO and a member of the Invitrogen Foundation board. "In addition to supporting specific programs through our grants, we will be developing resources, such as a comprehensive website that will serve as an educational resource for all those interested in furthering their knowledge of the life sciences."

Grant applications will be accepted online through the Foundation website at www.invitrogen.com/foundation.

Invitrogen provides products and services that supporting academic and government research institutions and pharmaceutical and biotech companies.